Koch brothers dominate at Prairie

Kevin J. O'Donnell

SUN PRAIRIE, WI (June 14, 1998) -- Kevin Koch, Cottage Grove, WI slammed the door on Brandon Waelti, Sun Prairie, WI and the field as the A-Main drivers rounded turns three and four before the green flag flew on the opening lap of the Snap-On Tools 25-lap Badger Midget Auto Racing Association feature event at Angell Park Speedway in Sun Prairie Sunday night. After jumping out to the early lead, Koch lead the feature wire to wire.

"This is a great win for this team," said Koch, who finished second last week, as he stood next to his #41 Gaerte / Beast in victory lane, "We've really struggled with our cars so far this year, but the last couple of weeks things have really come together."

Koch, who started outside the front row and broke out to a 15-car length lead by the 10^th lap, never realized that he was in command. "I really thought that I'd have a lot of pressure from (teammate) Bryce (Collings, New Zealand) because I thought his car would be just as good as mine. Unfortunately, the guys are still having a hard time with his car."

Ultimately, Koch's brother Randy was the only driver with a clear view of him at the finish line. Randy Koch, despite a 12-inch deep cushion at the entrance to turn one, used the outside line late in the race to pass five cars in four laps before he settled into second place with one lap to go.

"The cars were just too equal on the inside line and I just thought if I'm going to finish fifth, it may as well be fifteenth." Said Randy Koch from his pit area after the race. "I had to try something."

"That cushion almost got me a couple of times," he added, pointing at an area in turn one, "but once I had most of the loose stuff blown off, it actually went through there fairly stable. I just wish I had gone out there a little sooner, I might have been able to catch him if I had," then laughed, "but you can tell him (Kevin Koch) that when I realized he was leading, I let him go … that's just the kind of brother I am!"

Further respect for the big cushion in turn one came from Adam Clarke, Newcastle, Australia who finished third after being passed by Randy Koch with one lap to go. "I never figured a challenge would come from out there," Clarke said, "I really thought it was a one lane track … he is a very brave driver."

Rounding out the top five were Scott Hatton, Roscoe, IL, who was running in the Wilke / PAK #11 and Brandon Waelti in his family owned #35 Esslinger / Stealth. Waelti, who recently turned 18, had graduated from Sun Prairie High School just one week ago.

The BMARA midgets will return to action this Tuesday and then Wednesday night at the Beaver Dam raceway. The two-day, special format race, will feature time trials and qualification races on Tuesday night and the B and A feature on Wednesday night in conjunction with a World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series single day event.

xxx

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

On the FAST track !!! Sunday, June 14^th, 1998 is a day that the Angell Park speedfreaks are bound to remember for a long time. During qualifying the circuit gave up five sub-15 second laps. Quick time of 14.847 seconds set by Kevin Olson was just .25 off the all time quick mark set by Kevin Doty on May 26, 1996. If that wasn't enough, Doug Schenck, holder of track records throughout the midwest in his #71 Scat / Buzzard set the mark for the quickest six laps in the history of Angell Park during last nights trophy dash. Schenck completed the race in just over a minute and a half. The record was previously set in 1997 by Quinn McCabe

Tough Competition: Among the cars qualifying through last nights B-main into the feature event … #88 Dan Boorse, who has already won three features and leads the BMARA points this season … #76 Marty Davis, who earlier this year set the mark for the fastest 50 laps ever run at Angell Park and has two feature wins to his credit this season … and five time UMARA points champion, Donnie Lehman.

The SHOW !!! Look for several badger competitors in winged sprinters at the World of Outlaws show at Beaver Dam, WI this Wednesday. The associations could shake out as follows: Dan Boorse in Ken Weiland's #84 Stealth … Kevin Doty in the Christman #25 … John Calahan in the Mueller 8H … Chad DeSelle, in his own car … Tony Elliot in the Indiana car that he drove to a 2^nd place finish with the Interstate Racing Association in their only visit to Indiana of the season.

OFFICIAL RESULTS 6/14/98 - Race#8

* NEW 6-LAP TRACK RECORD- 1:30:52

Points Standings as of 6/14/98

POSITION, DRIVER/POINTS, PASS PTS, .......CAR # ,OWNER POINTS

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